Archive for October, 2012

Half of retail firewood is insect infested per new research – Examiner.com


Examiner.com

Half of retail firewood is insect infested per new research
Examiner.com
While it is not quite firewood time in Alabama, those who use or plan to use firewood purchased in bundles from big box store, gas stations, or grocery stores might need to be aware of new research published in the Journal of Economic Entomology on

View complete article

Oct 9, 2012 – What Makes It Residual?

QUESTION:

Please explain to me how some of today’s “residual insecticides” actually have a residual effect on bed bugs? I certainly have my doubts that there are residual properties of insecticides outside of DE or insecticide dusts that penetrate the exoskeletons of these bugs.

ANSWER:

Don’t you just love terminology, particularly when there may not be any clearly defined rules regarding certain terms? Within pest management and the use of insecticides we may loosely divide products into those that have no residual and are expected only to kill or affect the pest “on contact”, and then to rapidly disintegrate so that they no longer are available. The top prize here probably goes to pyrethrum, which we know breaks down rapidly when exposed to UV light, heat, etc. Or, we place insecticides into the group we call “residual” products, meaning they stick around for some highly variable length of time, and this length of useful residual varies wildly depending on what they are and where they are applied. The old chlordane applied to the cool, dark, dry soil under a slab might remain there at a level high enough to kill termites for 30 years or longer, but applied to the hot asphalt driveway in the sun might break down within a few days. 

While our current insect control chemicals do not approach the residual life of the old chlorinated hydrocarbons they still may remain available on a treated surface for anywhere from a couple of weeks to several years or longer, again depending on the molecule and the conditions where it is applied. The stability of that active ingredient also depends on what kind of formulation it comes in. A pyrethroid in a dust formulation, probably dusted into a dark void, is going to remain effective far longer than the same active ingredient in a spray application or an aerosol. The cyfluthrin in a microencapsulated formulation will last longer than one in a WP. It is just so variable that I really don’t think a clear definition is given for what constitutes a “residual”. But, in general we take it to mean a product that remains on the treated surface for some days or weeks after it is applied, and at a level high enough (strong enough) to kill insect pests that expose themselves to that a.i. by resting or walking onto that surface. This works great for cryptic insects like cockroaches that spend most of the 24-hour day hiding in a crevice that we treated, but less so for the spider that quickly walks over a surface and then makes a web that it spends the rest of its time on. 
For bed bugs this gets complicated, because of the high level of resistance these insects have or can acquire to many of our current insecticides. But, bed bugs are not “immune” to any of our active ingredients, and thus what is required to kill them is either a higher concentration of the a.i. or a much longer exposure period that allows a greater amount of the a.i. to make its way into the bug. For this reason baseboard treatments for bed bugs will likely be ineffective, as the bug quickly walks over the treated surface without acquiring the necessary amount of the a.i. Treating directly into their harborage sites ensures a much longer length of exposure to products that offer some level of residual. 
The majority of our residual insecticides kill by being absorbed through the exoskeleton of the arthropod, ending up in the nervous system where they so badly disrupt things that the bug’s important systems fail. Yes, these “contact” insecticides (as opposed to stomach toxins that must be ingested, like boric acid) are absorbed through the cuticle of the bug, finding their way in through pores and tiny openings at leg joints or seams and plates on the exoskeleton. In this sense they definitely are contact products. They do not need to be eaten or inhaled by the bug, but can make their way inside purely by getting onto the outside of the bug. 
DE and silica gel dusts are also contact insecticides, but work with a different mechanism than the nervous system toxins of most of our products. These active ingredients are desiccants that physically abrade the exoskeleton, causing tiny cuts and openings that then allow the body fluids to leak out, killing the insect by dehydration. Thus, they are defined as well as contact products that only have to get onto the outside of the bug to work. 

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

Ick Factor: Cockroaches Thriving in Hot Weather, Turning Up in Swimming Pools … – NBC San Diego

Ick Factor: Cockroaches Thriving in Hot Weather, Turning Up in Swimming Pools
NBC San Diego
They're crawling out of sewers at night and moving from house to house as homeowners spray one property just to push the thirsty pests over to the neighbors. ?The weather is the catalyst,? said Ben Garcia, quality assurance specialist with Pasadena

View complete article

Return of the stink bugs, what to do – Pittsburgh Post Gazette (blog)

Return of the stink bugs, what to do
Pittsburgh Post Gazette (blog)
For me, it's a relief the pests have reappeared this late in the season. Last year my garden was devastated. They will be feeding on what they can find, but the bugs are mostly looking for a place to spend the winter. You don't want that place to be
A banner year for bad bugsThe Daily News of Newburyport
British Columbians asked to sniff out stink-bug threatThe Province

all 11 news articles »

View complete article

Fall Season Sends Pests Indoors – The Herald | HeraldOnline.com

Fall Season Sends Pests Indoors
The Herald | HeraldOnline.com
FAIRFAX, Va. ? As the leaves change colors and the crisper weather arrives, many pests will begin to look for shelter indoors ? and homes are the perfect refuge from the cold winter ahead. The National Pest Management Association (NPMA) reminds

View complete article

Winged insects attack north fire officer’s home – Fiji Times

Winged insects attack north fire officer's home
Fiji Times
Labasa fire officer Avinesh Chand first detected the existence of the wood-eating insects on September 18 this year when he discovered big cracks on the walls of his house. "Upon inspection inside the wall, I discovered small winged insects and others

View complete article

Missouri officials evaluate using insects to combat invasive spotted knapweed – The Republic

Missouri officials evaluate using insects to combat invasive spotted knapweed
The Republic
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. ? Missouri conservation officials are battling a weed that can force out other plants used as food for livestock and wildlife. Spotted knapweed was reported in Missouri in 1933 and is established in about 40 percent of the state.
Controlling the Scourge of Invasive Spotted Knapweed in MissouriKansas City infoZine

all 16 news articles »

View complete article

Oct 4, 2012 – A Tree Hated The Change

QUESTION:

A healthy, green, flower-bearing desert willow went into severe, immediate transplant shock when re-planted. I suspect I added too much steer manure and salt which caused the problem and I am watering generously to combat. Any suggestions?

ANSWER:

I suppose there could be several reasons why a tree or shrub does not survive when transplanted, and in your case I am assuming you are referring to a new tree that you purchased and then removed from its container and placed into the ground, rather than moving an existing tree from one area to another. Sometimes it can be caused by improper planting by not tearing apart the root ball a bit to loosen the compacted roots. However, this should not result in an immediate reaction. Sometimes it can be improper watering – too much or too little, depending on the kind of plant. Some folks “love” their plants to death by over-watering and drowning the plant, as the roots do need oxygen and often need to dry out between waterings. 

Animal manures make excellent fertilizer, but it needs to be properly composted first to break down the nitrogen content a bit. Chicken manure is a good example, where chicken ranches spend awhile allowing the manure to compost well or it will have too hot of a nitrogen content and will burn plants. Steer manure is less like this, but still needs to have time to break down some of its contents. Apparently steer manure is notorious for its high salt content, and somehow even a much higher level of salt than simple “cow” manure, and where salt licks are made available this can affect that salt level as well. Since you are in Arizona perhaps the local source for this product does produce a manure with an unusually high level of salt, and this could well have caused some rapid effect on the foliage. 
Flooding to leach out the salt is probably your only recourse, and may take awhile and will take repeated efforts of flooding, drying, flooding again. You cannot “neutralize” the salt, but can put it back into solution to wash it away. Perhaps, since this tree was only recently planted, you could remove it, remove the soil from that area, and re-plant with new, fresh soil without all the manure. There also are certain kinds of plants that will actually suck up the salt in soil, as these plants are adapted to living in salty conditions. Your local nursery may be able to offer some thoughts on what these plants are and you could consider planting them around the tree for awhile. 

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

Nigeria: Govt Orders Spraying of Farms As Pests Destroy Produce

The Zamfara State government has dispatched a team of experts to spray farms in Zurmi Local Government Area of the state to curtail the menace of pests. The Director of Pest Control in the state’s Ministry of Agriculture, Alhaji Mansur Shinkafi, made the …

View complete article

Stink bugs return to Pittsburgh area – Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Stink bugs return to Pittsburgh area
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
"You almost went to voice mail," said Mr. Gallegor, vice president of Allegheny Pest Control in Jefferson Hills, when reached by phone this week. He had just finished spraying the outside of one house with pesticide and was on his way to treat another

and more »

View complete article

« Older Entries Newer Entries »